Through the years, one of the great satisfactions of photography has been the ability to make many different kinds of final images from a captured image. On the other hand, the manual efforts required and costs involved have generally limited most people to a small number of standard photographic features. The number of features readily and cheaply available has gradually increased over time. Photofinishing originally required manual input at every stage, but automation has gradually had some effect; initially in the detection of film type from machine readable encodements for sorting purposes.
The use of encodements to provide features like zooming and cropping have been taught, for example, in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,650,304; 4,583,831; 5,059,993; 5,619,738; and 5,132,715. The Advanced Photo System.TM. (ADVANCED PHOTO SYSTEM.TM.) has implemented the use of encodements on film to automatically print images in different formats and magnifications, to print various exposure related information on film, and to adjust for lighting conditions at the time of exposure.
Other uses of encodements have also been described. U.S. Pat. No. 5,758,216 discloses photography systems, film units, and cameras in which a one-time use camera or film unit bears external indicia of a special promotion and the enclosed film has a corresponding magnetic encodement. Disclosed special promotions include photomontages (composite images) with pre-exposed or digitally superimposed cartoon characters and other symbols, super saturated color processing and enhanced size prints. U.S. Pat. No. 5,726,737 discloses photography systems, film units, and cameras in which a one-time use camera or film unit bears external indicia of a preferential subject matter; such as action shots, scenic shots, and close-ups; and the enclosed film has a corresponding magnetic encodement. U.S. Pat. No. 5,758,216 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,726,737 disclose modifications of the entire image to provide for super saturated prints and preferential subject matter respectively. U.S. Pat. No. 5,461,440 discloses an image modification that uses an encodement on film and corrects for particular image quality degradations. U.S. Pat. No. 5,323,204 discloses use of an encodement to provide changes in aspect ratio and indicates that encodements might permit enhancement of image quality beyond negative quality to compensate for film or camera based limitations, artifacts, or errors. Examples of enhancements are noise suppression, sharpness enhancement, and tone scale modification.
The nature of the encodement itself, that is, the media used and the change in that media, has varied greatly. Encodements that are unchanged for a particular film type are generally provided as a permanent feature of the film, or film container, or both. For example, Type 135 film canisters have a pattern of electrically conductive and non-conductive patches. Encodements for variable features must be provided in another manner. U.S. Pat. No. 4,678,300 teaches an encodement in the form of a scratch on the outside of a film container. In the ADVANCED PHOTO SYSTEM.TM., encodements for are exposed spots on film or recordings on a magnetic layer. U.S. Pat. No. 4,500,183 discloses storage of "flag data" and other information on a magnetic disk or portion of a film cassette or on a random access semiconductor memory ("RAM") contained in a film cassette. U.S. Pat. No. 5,036,344 discloses the use of a film camera having an "IC card" that includes semiconductor memory, a microcomputer, and the like. The card provides continuous access to the information.
The various encodement media discussed above, with the possible exception of scratching the container, all add cost to the film unit. The cost tends to increase with an increase in storage capacity, and applies to all units, whether the storage capacity is used or not.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,799,219 teaches remote communication of image data and other data recorded on photographic film for photofinishing. An order number is used. European Published Patent Application No. EP 0 860 980 A2 teaches the preparation by a user of a print order file which is then transmitted for photofinishing. U.S. Pat. No. 5,606,365 teaches a digital camera which transmits image information with a camera identification code to a networked computer system for processing using correction maps specific to that camera. U.S. Pat. No. 5,765,042 teaches a one-time use camera having a film unit identification number printed on the outside.
It would thus be desirable to provide photofinishing methods, apparatus, and systems in which information relating to individual film units can be remotely read and written.